Stranger Things Season 4 is finally here, and the Upside Down just got darker than ever before. For long-time, hardcore fans, the nostalgia and suspense are as present as ever and will have you glued to the screen. At the same time, this season feels very different and it’s hard to tell whether or not that’s a great thing.
If there’s a reason it feels like we’re not really in Hawkins anymore, it’s because we aren’t. For major parts of the first three episodes, we’re in California, Russia, and stuck in the past. The show kicks off with a flashback to when Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown, Enola Holmes) was still in the laboratory and killed many scientists and other children with powers by using her own. We continue to see more references to El’s past as the season progresses, but first, we catch up with her and the others in real-time.
When we return to the present day, it’s 1986, and the gang is separated as they embark on one of their seemingly insurmountable challenges: high school. El is sending letters to Mike (Finn Wolfhard, It) filled with made-up stories of how easy life’s been in California when she’s really getting bullied daily. Will (Noah Schnapp, Waiting for Anya) is hiding something, Johnathan (Charlie Heaton, The New Mutants) smokes weed now, and Joyce (Winona Ryder, Heathers) has a new job. Meanwhile, back in Hawkins, Mike and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo, The Angry Birds Movie 2) have joined the D&D club “Hellfire” while Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin, Concrete Cowboy) is slowly starting to kick it with the popular kids since he’s on the basketball team.
Many of the early episodes focus on the divide between the crew and how everyone’s growing up. It escalates when Mike visits El over spring break and he finds out the truth about the bullying, as well as when Will reveals he feels sad that his friendship with Mike has faded (although there’s definitely more to the story there). Alongside all of this teenage angst is a supernatural story like no other: an evil creature from the Upside Down known as Vecna. This creation is the Duffer Brothers’ darkest yet and turns the Upside Down on its head. Vecna has the ability to get into someone’s mind and show them traumatic, personalized visions, only to kill them in a brutal and horrifying way unlike what we’ve seen with the Demogorgon or the Mind Flayer.
As the kids untangle this mystery—along with hiding the Hellfire club president suspected of killing the first Vecna victim—Joyce is off to find Hopper (David Harbour, Black Widow), who we all know is alive as a prisoner in Russia. This leaves the cast scattered in different places across the country as they try to solve multiple mysteries at once, and this leaves the audience trying to figure out just what this new villain is up to.
This season has all of the same fun that the others do, from tracking down clues, to flickering lights, to the gang getting into trouble, all with a sprinkling of friendship and romance. At the same time, this season takes an older, sadder turn as the reality of growing up sinks in and the relationships begin to crumble. The death count in Hawkins goes up and the stakes get higher and higher with every passing moment. And as the series first began by focusing on El’s past, this season expands on her character arc and dives into how her upbringing impacted her. While she is seen as a danger to many people, she can also be exactly what the world needs, which is where we leave off about halfway through this new chapter.
Where this show struggles this season is bringing in too many elements. The imagination is explosive and the tiny moments in between each action-packed sequence are still hilarious, like the dynamic between Steve (Joe Keery, Molly’s Game) and the kids. But there are many different pieces to the plot that have to come together this season, and at times it’s a bit overwhelming. There’s turmoil at school, at home, and with random characters we met momentarily at some point in the past, and on top of it there are many new characters we have to keep up with from two different high schools and from a prison in Russia. This season also references many past events in an attempt to give subtle nods to the fans, but it feels a bit set up.
That’s not to say those moments aren’t appreciated. Four seasons in, it’s hard to get that nostalgic season one feeling to return, but the show does a great job at reminding you that this is still Stranger Things, especially since things in every single episode just get a whole lot stranger. For anyone who loves this series, chapter four will likely feel like another exciting ode to the thrilling and terrifying Upside Down with a bucket full of new mysteries. It will just take a little bit longer (about seven 1 hour and 15 minute long episodes) to solve them.
Stranger Things Season 4 (Episodes 1-3) is now streaming on Netflix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQEondeGvKo
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